Flowers of Evil
by MU the Unknown
Summary: An alternate universe in RWBY that gives some insight from the villians' point of view and expands on some love relationships, specifically on that of Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall. This fanfic is rated K for now, but will eventually escalate to M due to some certain themes, such as death and adult relations.
1. Chapter 1 - Grimm Rose

Some Author's notes: For the first few chapters, this fanfiction will be rated K, but will eventually reach the M rating in later chapters. This is in progress and I hope to at least update this monthly. There are 13 planned chapters, planned to be completed before RWBY returns from hiatus. More characters will be involved with the story, but the main characters are Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall. There will be a couple of scene runovers, the first being the biggest, but shouldn't coincide with the real storyline of RWBY too much. Thank you for reading!

**Chapter 1: Grimm Rose**

"You're a good thief, but if I were the police, you would have been caught and surely you would have been put down, seeing you have no way to fight back."

A young woman approached the ragged man, who froze as she approached. The young man's hair was messily tucked away inside an old beanie, his clothes tattered and the typical fingerless gloves, ripped to shreds and a couple shades darker than they were originally from overuse. The woman shook her head, a small "tsk tsk" sound that danced on her lips as she approached.

"So what? You're going to report me to that worthless scum?" He counted the small amount of lien retrieved from the victim's wallet, frowning a little before shoving it into his pocket.

"No… But I would like to talk to you about a certain… Job opportunity."

"Not interested in being an underling for any big companies, or anyone at all to be frank."

"I'm looking for a business partner, in a kind of career choice related to the one you're pursuing now. You'll make more than you would need to live, and I could offer you a safe place to stay.

"I'm listening."

She gestured to the bench, politely asking "Mind if we sit and I ask you a few questions?"

He nodded, following her to the bench, the dim street light flickering out as they sat down. The woman conjured a flame and took a good look at the man's face. He wore a poorly cut beard and mustache, a dirty bronze that matched the tufts of hair escaping his beanie. The man got a good look at the woman's serpentine face, clean with thick, dark hair that adorned her face. It seemed to fall around her left shoulder, and her eyeliner was sharply pointed at the edges of her eyes. She was beautiful and glowing, especially in comparison to the man cautiously watching her flickering flame.

"What is your name?" she asked, watching the man with a false curiosity.

"Roman. Roman Torchwick. And yours is?"

"Fall. Cinder Fall. If you let my name be known to anyone else, I'll be sure to stop you from speaking ever again."

Roman just grinned, "I can agree to those terms."

Without a change of expression, she continued. "Why do you live this way? I understand you don't want to work under anyone, but why choose a lifestyle of thievery and such a poor state?"

He frowned a little, relaxing against the back of the bench, a tiny creak sounding as he took a deep breath of the night's crisp air. "I lost everything at a young age, and let's just say I don't agree with the higher-ups. I think everyone here should be eating sh-"

"I think I get the idea. Do things around Vale seem a little… Unjust to you?"

"Well, yeah. I wish I could make them pay."

"I do, too, and that's why I want you to join me in making them suffer. Here's the deal: I have big plans and need a distinct face for the media and a distraction. You'll be famous, under my protection, and we can finally lash back against these worthless people."

"And what's in it for you? Why do you care?"

"My reasons are a little more personal for now, but I can promise we're one in the same. Yes, the Faunus have reason to be angry with the people of Vale, but their hatred doesn't quite extend as far as it would for people like you. Me. Us."

"My question to you is simple; will I be able to keep clean and finally have some free time not running from the cops?"

"Of course, as long as you obey."

"Light the way, Miss Fall."

She let her lips fall to a straight line, unamused at what was supposed to be a pun. "Please do not use such childish demeanor in a situation such as this."

**… Two years later …**

"Let's go over the plan one more time; we go in, we grab the dust and take down any opposition. If the VPD shows up, we leave with the dust we've gathered. I will not wait for stragglers."

The similarly dressed men nodded, readying canisters and weapons. Roman, now cleaned up with new clothes, a nearly clean shave, a classy cane, and some eyeliner famous in his mug shots, started walking away from the Bullhead with his hired help following close behind. The sign before them read "From Dust Till Dawn" and from what Roman could see immediately, there wasn't any police; the shopkeeper was the only one in sight.

"Go check the rest of the store and stop anyone who tries to stop us."

Roman opened the doors, walking straight up to the shopkeeper and tapping the ashes from his cigar onto the glass display.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" Roman asked, unamused as a henchman raised a gun to the shopkeeper.

"Please! Just take my lien and leave!"

"Shshshshsh, calm down, we're not here for your money," he said calmly. He then turned to the henchmen, saying in a more serious tone "Grab the dust."

Meanwhile, Cinder fondled a note between her fingers, which read:

"Cinder,

I don't believe bringing henchmen was necessary, but I trust your word. Our big plan is finally moving forward and with my notoriety, there is no doubt I will cause a stir and create a distraction big enough to keep the higher-ups off our backs. With the other two around and a crowd watching, it looks like we can't display much affection to each other anymore. I'll miss it.

Love,

Roman"

Cinder took a look at the black rose with mysterious markings, sealing the rose in a glass casing hugging the flower's every curve. "Pathetic," she mumbled to herself.

Back at the shop, as the henchmen grabbed the dust and searched the store, Roman picked out a red dust crystal, checking the quality. Suddenly, a large black object flew through the corner of his eye, crashing into some merchandise. A henchmen looked to him, and Roman gestured to take care of the problem. Another henchmen went flying through the window, along with a young girl dressed in red and black. Roman turned to see, slightly irritated.

"Okay…" He looked to the henchman and gestured as he said even more irritated "Get her!"

Roman watched the girl take down the henchman, some powerful hits at the very least knocking out the henchmen. After the henchmen fell, Roman said sarcastically to himself, "You were worth every cent, truly, you were." Louder now, he addressed the young girl. "Well, Red, I think we all can say it's been an eventful evening!"

Police sirens were sounding, and Roman knew he needed to leave. "And as much as I would love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." He lifted his cane a triggered the crosshair to pop open at the end, launching one of his signature incendiaries at the girl.

Roman ran to get to the bullhead while the girl was distracted by the fireworks display. Standing at the edge of the room, he heard a small voice exclaim "Hey!" and more irritated than before, he said in a low voice, "Persistent."

The Bullhead roared to life, rising to pick Roman up. Roman climbed into the Bullhead and shouted "End of the line, Red!" and threw the red dust crystal down by the girl, shooting at it with his cane. He let out a joyful laugh before noticing a purple glyph in front of the girl. The Bullhead was being bombarded by dust, shaking it.

"We got a huntress!" Roman told Cinder before taking her place as driver. Cinder went to the doors as shards of ice pummeled the Bullhead, and Cinder was quick to retaliate and take care of the attacks. Keeping vigilant, Roman maneuvered the Bullhead to ricochet the huntress's projectiles, and in turn, after a stumble, Cinder dissipated them to prevent another pummeling. As soon as Cinder created enough of a distraction to leave, Roman closed the doors and skillfully maneuvered out of the vicinity.

Cinder smirked and joined Roman up front in the Bullhead. "Don't go soft on me, Roman. You'll regret it." She picked up the rose, fondling it again as Roman replied.

"I'll think about it," Roman chuckled, relaxing back in his seat as they flew back to their hideout.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ashen Marigold

**Chapter 2: Ashen Marigold**

Her heels could be heard clacking on the floor, the sound of a stack of papers hitting the table and catching Roman's attention. "What are these?"

"Just some information Mercury and Emerald gathered."

"Ugh, the kids again"

"Well, Emerald was off to get a… gift, when she noticed."

Roman frowned a little, reading the files over as Cinder took a seat next to him. "And she just happened to witness?" He raised his eyebrow before setting the file down, eyes flickering to the side as her felt Cinder's hot breath on his neck. Roman removed his hat, sighing and looking to her. "What do you want?"

"Roman…" she trailed off, her finger sliding down his arm.

"Cinder... What are you doing?"

He watched her eyes wander from his hat to his eyes, tensing up a little as she leaned closer to him. "Oh Roman…" she said, her face close to Roman's as she placed her hand on his thigh. "I know you're better than that."

He took a deep breath, contemplating if he should go in for a kiss.

"Maybe this time you won't mess up," she said, leaning back and crossing her legs. "One more chance, Roman. It's embarrassing to lose to a child… though, Junior's men were incompetent, and we will be finding better, more efficient men to aid us."

Taking notice of his own image being displayed on the screen, Roman rushed to change the subject. "Hey! I look so good in that shot! I'm sure they're all running scared from the king of crime himself!"

Cinder partway glared at him, the air around her burning. Roman tensed up again and leaned back, his arms up behind his head and his eyes closed. "Look, I know I messed up but I was told there should be no trouble. Get in, get the dust, and get out with all of it before the cops arrived. Little red was too big of a problem for Junior's useless grunts and the cops were coming. Who knows, maybe she's a lot older than she looks, like you?"

The death glare he received made him wish she had set him on fire instead. "L-l-lo-look, Cinder, you look like you're around 18, maybe 20, but I don't mean you're that old…"

Before anymore banter could come out of his mouth, something on the screen caught her attention. "Of course, they would be the perfect pawns to get our opposition off their high horse. Roman, we've found our help, and I'm sure they'll be more than enough. I'm sure they have close enough of a goal to ours… It should be easy to persuade the White Fang to join us."

Roman looked at the waving red and white flag on the screen, grinning with a hidden sigh of relief. "I'm sure they'll be perfect underlings for the job."

Cinder watched Roman carefully, yet another glare slowly developing on her face.

"…I'll go see if Mercury and Emerald are back yet." Roman stood up to leave, his feather burning to ashes as he walked to the lower warehouse. After he was out of sight, he brushed the ashes off his hat and put it back on, cursing under his breath.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neo enter. "Hey, can you take me to the usual place?" he said, Neo nodding in response. "I'll meet you out in the bullhead, go ahead and take care of anything you need to."

Neo arrived a couple minutes later, taking the passenger seat as Roman smoothly took off. "Sorry to drag you along, but I'm sure Cinder isn't too trusting of my actions and you never know how safe you are in the heart of a mass of Grimm. It's not much for me, but you know there are Grimm out there we haven't even tried to handle, and your illusions should get us there."

She nodded, the bullhead fading from sight as they reached a dense forest. After another ten minutes, Roman lowered the bullhead into a small clearing, Neo taking out a book to read while she kept the bullhead out of sight. Roman grabbed his cane and headed down a narrow path, worn only by a trek to the destination and back a couple times a month. Roman paused at an extremely wide, fallen tree that had lost all its leaves and started to rot. The air smelled faintly of pine and fresh rain, grey clouds slowly skimming across the sky above him.

Roman kneeled where the tree first splits, aiming Melodic Cudgel toward the sound of a low grumbling across the clearing, slightly larger than the one where the bullhead was hidden. As soon as a red streak could be seen in the shadows, Roman took a shot, the monster bursting into ashes. Several simultaneous roars were followed by rampant thudding of the beasts now swarming towards their dead brethren.

Roman was quick, swiftly shooting down any Grimm that came into the clearing. As a large Ursa attacked him from behind, Roman used another shot's recoil to twist around and land Melodic Cudgel on its forehead, a brief pause before blowing it to bits. A final group of Grimm amassed in the clearing, taking notice of him as he turned around. He jumped on top of the tree, pulling the pin from a grenade and tossing it into the cluster of beasts, taking a shot at the grenade with his cane, causing the Grimm to burst into a cloud of ink-black ashes, burning out of sight.

Roman thought it resembled an ashen flower before it died down, an orange flower catching his attention in the corner of the clearing. Roman walked over to the marigold, gently breaking the flower off the plant, leaving about a foot of the stem on the flower. Some of the ashes from the trees hit by Melodic Cudgel had gotten between the petals, but Roman thought it might suit Cinder's liking.

On the ride back, Neo maneuvered the bullhead in silence, Roman exhausted and scribbling away on a piece of parchment. In his hat, where the feather used to be, was the ashen marigold. "Thanks for the help, Neo," he said, folding the parchment in three. She smiled and nodded, both silent as they arrived at the warehouse. No sign of Mercury or Emerald yet, and Cinder seemed to have wandered off as well.

Roman entered Cinder's room, resting the flower on her makeshift nightstand, setting the note down next to it, signing her name on top in lettering that must have been twenty times nicer than the writing inside. "I should get her a vase for all these damn flowers," he thought aloud. "They're all going to wither and die without some water, though I'm sure she burns them all anyways." With a soft sigh, he left the room, retiring to his own for some rest.

"Dear Cinder,

I made a mistake with Junior's men, but if the White Fang agree to join us, I swear I will do my best to make up for said mistake. I know I made you upset, so I get if you're mad, but we'll both be busy enough kicking the plan into gear; we don't need to be bickering about like a married couple and I'm sure we've got bigger problems.

I'm sure you remember my past with the White Fang, so you probably already know I'm not going to be very tolerant of them. I'm sure we make excellent villains at this point, though no one knows our plans yet. Will we be letting Mercury and Emerald know? Neo? The White Fang? All of Vale? You need to let me in or things aren't going to go as smoothly as they should. You've grown cold lately and I know we need to keep our relationship hidden, but I don't think keeping secrets was a part of the plan.

Questioningly lovingly,

Roman

P.S. If you're looking to keep this a secret, maybe you shouldn't be close enough to kiss me. Tease. "

. . .

"Neo," Cinder purred, resting a hand on Neo's shoulder. Neo froze briefly, turning to meet Cinder as she came to a halt at Neo's side. "Where were you and Roman, today?" Neo's lips slipped into a small smile as she replied. "Practicing some combat, you know, with my umbrella and his cane. He's okay, but I still could kick his ass any day." Cinder smirked, leaning close to the small girl. "You two should be able to practice here in the warehouse; if you two get caught, we're going to have trouble. Just make sure you stay away from the dust or things could get very messy very fast."

Neo nodded, making her way to her room. Cinder released her, walking up to her room, exhausted from the recent trip. It was no easy feat, but the White Fang would be joining them on their mission. All they needed to know was they were out to get the governing power due to the general mistreatment, especially to the Faunus, and with growing armies, they are well on their way to making sure they have no opposition to their growing power.

As Cinder entered her room, she immediately noticed the flower next to her bed. She smiled a little, shaking her head as she grabbed both the note and the flower. She slipped off her heels, laying back on the bed slowly. "That damn fool is going to kill all these flowers if doesn't put them in any water," she thought aloud. She admired the vibrant marigold for a minute, noticing some ashes embedded between the petals. "Sparring, huh?"

Cinder crystallized the marigold, looking over Roman's note with a sigh. "Oh, Roman…" She slid the note into pillow, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep, marigold still barely held between her fingers.


End file.
